Warm feeling
by Alicia Mirza
Summary: A day spent with his four-year-old mistress, Lily changed Kreacher completely. That was what he needed, a young child full of love who cared about him. He was loved and it felt strangely good, that warm feeling stayed there. The story of how Kreacher became Lily Luna Potter's best friend, also known as the adventures of K'eache', Princess and Heddy. [one-shot]


_**This one-shot was written **__**for: **_

_**1. Quidditch League Competition ****- Finals - Round 1**_

Team: Holyhead Harpies

Position: Chaser 2

Creature: Kreacher

Wordcount: 2833 words

Bonus prompts: 7. Feast; 14. Feathers; 15. Candlelight

_**2. Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry! - Quidditch - Hufflepuff vs. Ravenclaw - HUFFLEPUFF**_

__Prompts: golden, feather, tricky, humungous, pickle, baseball, darts, glue, muggle, jack-in-the-box

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_**Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter series, all rights go to J.K. Rowling.**_

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_Warm feeling_

**_/the adventures of K'eache', Princess and Heddy/_**

"Momma!" The shouting was so loud that the old house-elf had to put his hands on his huge (and slightly hairy) ears, so he wouldn't become even deafer.

"Mommy!" He sighed and continued dusting the portraits, which were about many redheads instead of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. He slowly turned around when an overexcited four-year-old appeared out of nowhere right next to him.

"K'eache'." The young redhead squealed in delight, but the elf tried to ignore her obvious attempts on ruining his day. "I can't find Mommy," she said so dramatically that he was sure that she was close to breaking down in tears so he faced the girl who grinned at him when she noticed that she gained his attention.

"Where is Mommy?" she asked with her incredibly big and innocent brown eyes. She pressed her lips together too and a tear appeared on the edge of her eyes.

"The mistress has left recently," he replied and was ready to turn back to mind his own business, but it didn't seem enough for the young girl.

"And Daddy?" she questioned him in a desperate tone. He fixed his eyes on her for a second before answering.

"My master, your father, young mistress is in his office. You can't go in there now. He is working," he replied in a tired and a bit bored tone. Cleaning the house and cooking was one thing, dealing with a hyper four-year-old was a completely other.

To the elf biggest surprise she didn't left, instead she sat down on one of the stairs. He continued working, not caring about the little girl, but she seemed to have other ideas.

"I want my Mommy and Daddy! Jamie and Al were meanie," she cried and he stopped working awkwardly looking at the girl whose brown eyes were already bloodshot. He considered his options, the mistress was out of house, his master was working, he wouldn't want to be disturbed, he was said to be in charge of the children. He knew that he was going to regret it, but he looked at the crying girl.

"What happened?" he asked. It was enough, she stopped sobbing, but instead she seemed excited to share how bad her big brothers were. However at that moment to make it worse the other two children (both with huge grins on their faces) came down the staircase.

"You!" the little girl cried out. Both of the dark-haired boys grinned at their younger sister while Kreacher turned back to do his job. As in his opinion these children could look after each other, they didn't need him, that was the reason there was three of them, wasn't it?

"I hate both of you with your tricky... tricks!" she said angrily and her brothers just chuckled. "That clown... It was sca'y!" she started angrily, but her voice died down. The boys didn't look guilty at all, they just shook their head and high fived.

"That was just a jack-in-the-box, Lils. Plus, I thought that you aren't afraid of anything. Aren't you a Gryffindor?" the oldest, James teased his younger sister, who couldn't answer him.

"We should go, try out those muggle games we got for Christmas. What are they called... darts and... mainball? No, baseball." The six-year-old Albus turned towards the eldest like he didn't even notice his sister. Not that Kreacher cared of course, but while dusting he noticed the sad look on the small girl's face and he wasn't surprised to see that she was teary eyed again. The boys left without even looking at the redhead.

"Jamie! Al!" she called out, but the only answer she got was the distant sound of the boys' laughing. "No one likes me," Lily concluded softly. It was a hard decision to make, ignore the girl and continue working or deal with the hurt feelings of a human kid. Kreacher wasn't good with feelings, but he made a mistake, he looked at the miniature version of his mistress who was once again crying.

"Do you want to play something, young mistress?" he asked in a tired tone. He shouldn't have asked that he realized, because as soon as the words left his mouth the face of the girl lit up and she was bouncing up and down even though only a half minute ago she was sobbing.

"I wanna play with Hed'ig," she said solemnly. He had no idea what she was talking about, but he nodded. He put down the cleaning duster and turned towards the four-year-old. Lily took this a sign, she left the staircase, but before he could even think about continuing his work (which has been interrupted countless times already) she appeared with a plush animal. If Kreacher had to take a wild guess he would say it was a bird (or maybe a polar bear), but it was so puffy and hairy that he couldn't be sure.

"K'eache' , I wane int'oduce you to Hed'ig," she said solemnly and the elf nodded just as seriously even though he felt himself completely stupid. He wasn't sure why he was doing this, his job was to make sure that the three children were safe and call someone in emergency or even try to do something with his magic. Playing with a four-year-old and an unrecognizable hairy stuffed animal was surely not in his job description.

"Nice to meet you," he muttered and Lily Potter beamed.

"Heddy has very p'etty feathers, doesn't she?" she asked with such a big smile he thought it was impossible. So the hairy thing was indeed a bird, an owl probably and that hairy stuff should be a feather, he concluded. He just nodded, but it was enough to the little redhead.

"You are so much bette' than Al and Jamie," she said happily and what surprised Kreacher even more she put her hands around him and just like she hugged that stuffed animal before she embraced him. There was probably glue on her as she didn't seem to let go of him. Yes, she had to be glued to him. However, before he could try to remove it with his magic she took a step back with an enormous grin on her face.

"Can you make Heddy fly?" she asked suddenly. Kreacher looked at the bird-like thing which was still in her hand and he used his magic to make it levitate. At least he had the permission to use his magic not like many others. In his opinion it seemed like a big fluffy white rabbit floating, but the redhead didn't seem to share his ideas.

"Heddy is flyin'," she squealed and beamed at him. He had to admit seeing the little girl smiling like that at him made him feel warm inside. He hardly ever felt like that, but the absolute adoration on her face seemed to affect him.

After about half a minute he let 'Heddy' land in her hands which made her giggle.

"Heddy and K'eache' are my best f'iends," she told him solemnly.

"Best friends?" he asked back not sure that he heard her well, but she just nodded.

"I like Rosie, Molly, Lucy, Roxy, Vic and Dom, but Hugo, Louis and the other boys are no fun, like Al and Jamie," she stated and nodded at the same time making her red curls bouncing. He had never used the word 'cute', not even in his thoughts before, but that was the only way to describe the little girl in front of him.

"Don't you have anything to do?" he asked after she finished analyzing her relationship with her cousins. She looked thoughtful for a moment, but then she shook her head happily.

"I'm f'ee," she shared the good news with him. He looked back at the dusty paintings which seemed to glow in the golden candlelight.

"Are you hungry young mistress?" he asked suddenly. Once again she pressed her lips together and she wrinkled her forehead, while thinking she seemed years older than her true age.

"It's Lily," she said after a moment. He looked questioningly at her, but she didn't seem to react to his expression.

"Kreacher don't understand you, young mistress," he told her.

"My name is Lily, not young mist'ess," she pointed out very logically in her opinion.

"Kreacher was told to call you young mistress by my master," he stated, but she just shook her head.

"No, I am Lily. Lily Luna Potter," she stated firmly. He was not good with dealing four-year-olds. The young masters never really paid much attention to him; the last time he had to deal with devoted child was back then when he was much younger and when he still served the Noble House of Black.

"Then, Mistress Lily," he said, but she just shook her head.

"Lily, Lil or Lils. Daddy calls me Lily-flower and Princess too," she stated decidedly and he nodded slowly. He decided forgetting about names for the rest of the day, she might forget it by the next day.

"Would you like to eat something?" he tried again.

"Pickle," she said solemnly and he was once again not sure how to react. He decided that he was too old to deal with a four-year-old.

"I thought about making a little feast," he stated. "What about humungous steak, potatoes and salad?" he asked, but she pressed her lips together and crossed her arms.

"I don't like that humun thingy," she replied. "I wanna eat pickles." Kreacher didn't really have much choice after that.

"Then some pickles," he muttered and thought of apparating to the kitchen, but when he noticed those big brown eyes fixed on him he just started walking. Like a little puppy the redhead followed him which was annoying, but good at the same time in his opinion.

"Put me up there." She pointed on the counter.

"My mistress wouldn't be happy," Kreacher stated, but he noticed that once again she was blinking and a tear appeared out of nowhere and in a second she was close to breaking into tears. He shouldn't do it, but he wasn't sure what to do with a sobbing child, so he concentrated on her and just like he made that stuffed bird floating he levitated the young girl. She giggled and when she landed on the counter she was clapping.

"Once again," she asked, but he just started looking for the prickles, not paying much attention to her. As soon as he found the bottle he took out some and served it to the girl, who grimaced.

"No, I don't want to eat prickles," she concluded. She jumped down from the counter (causing a very long moment of panic for Kreacher) and then she frowned.

"I wanna play with you," she stated and she even pointed at the poor elf who just wanted to go back dusting those paintings, it was so much easier than to entertain her. He thought about finding the older siblings and making sure that they take care of her, but then he remembered how she said that she didn't like them, she wouldn't be happy. For a moment he stopped, why would he even care if the young girl was happy. His only job was to make sure that she was safe; he shouldn't care about her feelings, let alone entertain her all day long.

"Hide and seek!"she shouted randomly and before he could even blink she disappeared. This meant that he couldn't go back dusting, not when he didn't know where the redhead was, she might be in trouble, she might hurt herself and then it would be his fault (at least in his master's and mistress' opinion).

So, he started looking for the little girl who seemed to disappear in the big house. After what seemed like an eternity for the old elf he heard giggling. He was just checking the bathroom downstairs. He noticed her in the bad.

"You found me!" she said happily, not caring that she has just lost the game. "Al and Jamie ne'er plays with me." She looked hurt and somewhat sad thinking about her older brothers who always minded their own business leaving her all alone. Kreacher wasn't sure how to react, not for the first time that day.

However, before he would have to say something her bad mood seemed to disappear and her expression brightened.

"But I have you, K'eache' and Heddy, I don't need anyone else," she told him solemnly and he felt a bit odd and maybe a bit embarrassed, but he wasn't sure why he felt like that. The redhead got out of the bad and hugged the elderly elf again, like it was natural. Before he could even understand what was going on she ran out of the bathroom while chuckling ad giggling.

"Catch me if you can!" she shouted. He slowly left the bathroom and started looking for the problematic and pretty hyper four-year-old.

"I hate you! I hate you!" He heard the shouting from upstairs so he climbed the stairs. The voices came from the young mistress' room. Just when he could reach it a sobbing little girl ran right into her with something white and fluffy in her hand. He lost his balance and she ended up on him. He helped her up and noticed that she was holding to that white thing like her life was depending on it.

"Jamie and Al 'uined Heddy," she explained and showed him the remains of the stuffed animal. "Can you heal him?" she asked pleadingly. For a moment he thought about saying no, after all he knew well that his master or mistress could repair the toy with a flick of their wand, but he wasn't sure how long his master worked and when did his mistress came back. So he nodded and took the toy from her. He thought about simply sewing the toy, but from the expression on her face he knew that she wanted him to repair her stuffed animal with magic.

"You can do it by yourself too," he simply stated. She has already showed the signs of being a witch after all, she was upset too. At least this way, he would make her satisfied, happier than doing it for her.

"How?" she asked curiously and hugged the remains of the toy even closer to herself.

"Concentrate on it, on your frustration with your brothers and on your love for... Heddy," he stated and she nodded brightly. For a half minute nothing happened, but then the toy became just like it did before the older children ruined it. When she opened her eyes she squealed and she even let the toy fall.

"I love you!" she said to the poor old elf happily and fixed her big brown eyes on her. "You are the best! You are my best f'iend, now I'm su'e of it!" she stated and for a moment she stopped bouncing.

The door of his master's office opened and his master started walking in their direction. He stopped at the little girl and lifted her up.

"What is it, Princess?" he asked her curiously, noticing her bubbly mood. She just giggled and pointed to Kreacher who was still standing at the same place.

"I just told K'eache', that I love him and that he is my best f'iend," she told her father seriously, who needed a moment to understand what she has just said. He looked forth and back between his small daughter and the elderly house-elf.

"Your best friend, darling?" Kreacher's master asked his daughter who nodded with a big smile.

"Yes, he is so great, Daddy!" she answered and Kreacher felt warm inside again when those brown eyes looked into his small and filmy ones. He has only felt anything like that once, but no, Master Regulus was different. That little girl... she has affected him like no one else did before.

"Did you have a good day, sweetie?" his master once again questioned her daughter who nodded enthusiastically.

"K'eache' played with me and Heddy!" she replied with a grin. "Daddy, can I go back playing with him?" she asked curiously and her father nodded. He turned towards Kreacher with any unreadable expression on his face.

"Kreacher, you should play with Lily," he stated and the elf nodded.

"I haven't finished the dusting yet, master," Kreacher stated, but his master shook his head and looked at his daughter.

"She wants you," his master told the elf who felt oddly well.

He looked at the grinning little girl who was offering her hand to him and turned towards his smiling master.

"What shall we play, you... Lily?" Kreacher asked and the girl was over-excited.

"Heddy wants to fly!" she said happily and grabbed the hand of the house-elf.

Yes, this was definitely a first for him.

He was loved and it felt strangely good, that warm feeling stayed there.


End file.
